Vending machines, such as for soft drinks, snacks, and the like, are often located outside and intended to be readily accessible to the public in stores and on the street. As the price of bottled beverages and snacks has increased, the use of bill validators on vending machines has become more widely used. The bill validators include a wide slot for entry of the bill, and for return of the bill if it is placed in the changer incorrectly or if the validator fails to identify and accept the bill as a valid bank-note. This wide mouth is susceptible to entry by a crowbar and being easily pried off so that access to the bills carried in the bill validator can be had. The problem of theft from bill validators and damaged bill validators depends, of course, on the location of the changers. However, many of the vending machines with bill validators are in locations clearly susceptible to theft. An experienced thief does not take long to break into an unprotected bill validator. The response to solving the problem has been largely to remove the vending machine from the location if it has been broken into more than twice, or to place a plate over the bill validator to render it completely inoperable to avoid further damage and theft. In the latter case, only coins can be used on the vending machine. Placing the machine in condition to only operate with coins typically reduces the profit from the machine by 30–40%.
The prior art is replete with bill validators of various designs, none of which are provided with protection sufficient to withstand an assault from a thief with a crowbar. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,336 shows a bill validator with a lid portion covering the internal workings of the validator which includes a bill slot for receiving and returning bills. No protection is provided to cover the bill slot and protect the bill validator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,271 shows a security box for a bill validator that includes a lid with a bill feed mouth for receiving and returning bills. Again, no separate protective cover is provided. U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,929 shows an apparatus for validating bank-notes that includes an unprotected bill receptor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,584 shows another type of currency validator with an unprotected bill entryway.
The prior art has not provided adequate security for protecting a bill validator from a thief with a crowbar. Accordingly, protecting bill validators on vending machines accessible by the public at all hours remains a problem which needs considerably attention.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a security cover for bill validators used on vending machines to prevent the bill validators from being broken into and the money removed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a security cover for bill validators attached in such a manner as to prevent the removal of the security cover from the vending machine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a security cover for bill validators adapted to allow bills to be inserted and returned through the security cover without becoming jammed between the bill validator and security cover.